presidential historian

strategist

author

Meeting the Moment

historical lessons of American presidents applied to today and the future.

Combining the fields of history, biography, philosophy, literature, political science and leadership development and told through the lens of nuance, complication, human emotion, pathos, and drama, this illuminating and engaging book brings to life the stories of a select group of bellwether U.S. presidents during the distinctive leadership crises that define them for the ages. In highlighting the personal quality that set each of these presidents apart, from leveraging experience and instincts to make the right calls when they matter the most like George Washington to cultivating an optimistic spirit to break down walls like Ronald Reagan, this book illustrates not only how these leaders transformed America but also how they serve to instruct us to meet our own moment today.

From SUNY Press, released November 1, 2024.

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"Grounded in lived experiences translated into aspirational communication, this excellent book provides a roadmap for presidential success.” 

Michael A. Genovese

William Haldeman is a presidential historian and author of the upcoming book “Meeting the Moment: Inspiring Presidential Leadership That Transformed America” (SUNY Press, 2024).

Haldeman has extensive high-level government experience, serving the White House Domestic Policy Council, the seventh floor of the U.S. Department of State, and as a member of a governor’s senior staff.

He earned a PhD in History from American University and Term Membership on the Council on Foreign Relations.

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What others are saying about the book…

  • “America’s success still depends on presidential leadership, and Bill Haldeman powerfully shows us how some prior chief executives used their talents and character to step up the pace of progress. We will only rarely have the privilege of electing a Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, or Roosevelt, but we can and should examine candidates for the White House using Haldeman’s criteria for excellence in office--judgment, ingenuity, dedication, courage, confidence, and optimism. Voters can raise the bar of presidential quality by focusing on these dimensions of the soul.” 

    Larry J. Sabato

    Professor, University of Virginia; Director, Center for Politics at the University of Virginia

  • "Bill Haldeman captures the essence of Presidential leadership, drawing upon the historical examples of our Nation's greatest Presidents to demonstrate how their crucial leadership attributes transformed America and changed the world. From George Washington's judgment to Ronald Reagan's optimism, this thoroughly researched and engagingly written book shows us how American Presidents -- and indeed all leaders -- can meet the moment and achieve great things."

    Governor Chris Christie

  • “Presidential scholars have long known Bill Haldeman to be a deeply informed and thoughtful student of the office. These qualities are on full display in Meeting the Moment, in which he marshals evidence from the history of the office and its occupants to demonstrate the importance of judgment, courage, dedication and other personal qualities to successful presidential leadership.”

    Michael Nelson

    Fulmer Professor of Political Science, Rhodes College

  • “Taking a leadership approach to the presidency, Haldeman unpacks the deep elements that can lead presidents to become transformational. Grounded in lived experiences translated into aspirational communication, this excellent book provides a roadmap for presidential success.”

    Michael A. Genovese

    President of the Global Policy Institute, Loyola Marymount University; author of THE MODERN PRESIDENCY

  • “Words are a president’s most powerful tools, and Bill Haldeman’s Meeting the Moment is an engaging, insightful, and yes, powerful study of moments when our chief executive’s landmark addresses revealed the qualities that made them truly great. Judgment; Ingenuity; Dedication; Courage; Confidence; and Optimism. We can only pray our future presidents share the traits Haldeman masterfully describes in this thoroughly enjoyable book.”

    Jeffrey A. Engel

    Founding Director, Center for Presidential History, Southern Methodist University

  • “In these perilous, highly polarized times, we can benefit from a historically grounded work that offers an informed, impartial analysis of exceptional presidential leadership. Bill Haldeman fills that need with his thoroughly researched, persuasively argued analysis of the inspired leadership exhibited by many of our most esteemed presidents, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan.”

    Allan J. Lichtman

    Distinguished Professor of History, American University; author of Predicting the Next President: The Keys to the White House

  • “Haldeman offers a fresh, vibrant and highly readable perspective on presidential leadership through situational and biographical analyses of key presidential decision points, examining and comparing qualities of presidential character permitting selected presidents to be successful, persuasively arguing that no flawless or indisputable set of characteristics distinguishes presidential greatness but, rather, that singular qualities and circumstances combine to produce history-changing or ‘transformative’ outcomes.”

    James Hilty

    Professor Emeritus, Temple University; author of Robert Kennedy: Brother Protector

  • “Bill Haldeman has a storyteller’s gift and a cameraman’s eye. In Meeting the Moment, he impeccably matches six integral qualities of leadership with six of our highly regarded presidents. Haldeman takes his reader into the hearts and minds of each of them, placing us where the action was, and the lessons they still teach us today. With Meeting the Moment, Haldeman establishes himself as one of the best historians of his generation.”

    Tim McGrath

    historian and author of James Monroe: A Life (2020)

  • “Meeting the Moment is a profoundly insightful and engagingly written study of presidential leadership. William Haldeman scrutinizes six of our most important presidents -- Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan – and demonstrates that through character and long experience each had acquired and honed a leadership quality essential for effectively meeting the supreme challenge of his time. The essential quality varied from president to president, but each possessed a key attribute that inspired others to follow and enabled the leader to successfully confront national adversity and crisis. This important book is a worthy contribution to the study of presidential greatness.”

    John Ferling

    author of Winning Independence: The Decisive Years of the Revolutionary War, 1778-1781 (2021)

  • "We Americans always have more to learn about the inspiring history of our country and our leaders. Ìn Meeting the Moment, Bill Haldeman draws on his own leadership skills and shows us, in vivid prose, how American presidents provided inspirational leadership in perilous times."

    Michael Barone

    Senior political analyst, Washington Examiner; Founding co-author, The Almanac of American Politics

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